The skull of the beast shows similarities to its cousins, the ancestors of modern birds. However, the creature's lacks some of the bird-like features of later members of the family, showing that the features likely evolved in parallel in both birds and the related dinosaur group. (Source: NSF.gov)

Newly discovered dinosaur shows that in evolution lightning can and does strike twice

A newly discovered dinosaur in the Alvarezsauridae group
has revealed that bird-like features likely evolved twice, both in
dinosaurs and in the ancestors to modern birds. Previously, the
group was thought to be ancestors of modern birds, rather than
evolutionary cousins.

Describes Jonah Choiniere from
George Washington University in an interview with BBC News,
"Haplocheirus is a transitional fossil. Previously
we thought the Alvarezsauridae were primitive, flightless
birds. This discovery shows they're not and that the similarities
between them evolved in parallel."

Like birds, the group
of dinosaurs has fused wrists and loosely assembled skull bones,
leading many paleontologists to believe that they might be the
ancestors of birds. The beasts may also have had feathers,
according to analysis in the late 90s and onward.

However,
anatomical analysis of a 3-meter long nearly complete skeleton of a
new species in the group indicates that the group likely diverged
from the line of dinosaurs that evolved into birds, and that the
bird-like features emerged in parallel, not in series. The new
skeleton was dubbed Haplocheirus sollers and was found in the
China's Gobi desert. The skeleton was noticed by a member of a
team excavating in the orange mudstone beds in the Junggar Basin of
the Xinjiang province. The member saw the pelvis of the
dinosaur sticking out of the ground -- and the rest of the skeleton
was found soon after.

Professor Choiniere describes, the
results of the subsequent analysis, stating, "The rest of the
members of this group have really short forelimbs with huge muscle
attachments, like body-builder arms. The fossil shows the first step
in the evolution of this weird arm and claw."

The new
dinosaur is thought to have lived 160 million years ago, making it
the oldest member of the family found to date. Birds and
Alvarezsauridae likely split not long before the evolution of
the new find, say researchers. Both group s likely are
descended from the bird-footed dinosaurs of the early Jurassic, which
include such famous members as the T.
Rex and Velociraptor.

The new find likely was
primarily an insectivore (as evidenced by its small teeth). Its
small claws were quite agile and would have been ideal for digging,
leading researchers to speculate it likely ate termites, which were
plentiful in its era and locale. However, that likely didn't
stop the versatile reptile from trying different cuisine. Describes
Professor Choiniere, "It may have had a very general diet,
tackling smaller animals like lizards, very small mammals and very
small crocodile relatives. It was a lightly built animal and
could run very quickly."

The truly
fascinating thing about this find is that it fuels the theory that in
evolution lightning can, and likely will strike twice -- similar
designs can evolve in parallel out of a common need. Thus much
of the anatomy in science fiction -- such as teeth on the titular
Alien or giant wings and feathers of the flying
monsters of Avatar -- may be realistic. If life is
found on other planets similar to Earth, it may show striking
similarities as our own planet's fossil record indicates.

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Darwin theorist don't like Intelligent design because it points at all the flaws inherent that all species derived from a single source.

Intelligent Design supports both. It supports the possibility of a creator and it supports evolution of species but from multiple species not from a single source. Anyone here want to take a guess at how long it would take for you to get a man from an ape if you applied darwinism? Now throw in all the other living creatures? It says that there is some other form of intelligence behind the creation of all the animals/insects that cannot be produced from random or from darwinism. So it still supports a god but doesn't rule out some other help at creating all form of life on this planet.

Darwin was great for its time but we have to be smarter about evolution.

If we dont challenge theories then we might as well say headaches are from too much blood in the head and bring back bloodletting.

quote: Anyone here want to take a guess at how long it would take for you to get a man from an ape if you applied darwinism?

Consider that the human genome is 98 percent similar to the chimpanzee I would estimate 10-20 million years as a fair guess -- in line with modern evolutionary theory.

You obviously don't understand the basics of molecular biology/genetics. It took a couple of billion years (long time) for organisms to develop useful biochemical pathways and anatomical systems/features. From there it was just tweaking them and refining them to offer subtle improvements over time.

You also don't seem to get that modern evolutionary theory considers random genetic drift, which becomes particularly important when dealing with small isolated populations. Thus while it might take an ape precursor 20 million years typically to evolve into a human or modern ape, it might take a mere 3 or 4 million years to evolve such noticable changes if the population was small and isolated.

quote:None of the 3 have any hard facts. How can any be considered wrong?

I think the previous ops were off base in belittling you, but I agree with them that you don't seem to understand that the vast majority of biochemical, fossil record, genetic, and anatomical evidence is very much in line with modern evolutionary theory. Those arguing otherwise typically use outdated data to fuel their arguments.

For example I read some of the leading intelligent design "argument" compilations like Darwin's Black Box, The Edge of Evolution, Darwin on Trial, and had to stop after a few chapters because of how utterly ridiculous they were (okay I perservered and read all of Darwin's Black Box -- hint it doesn't get any better).

The sources they cite are largely studies from the 60s and 70s -- or earlier even. To base your argument solely on outdated material in such a fast moving field suggests you're trying something squirrely.

And indeed they are. Intelligent design is nothing more than an attempt to cash in on the gullible. Having read the work of its foremost critics, I can say its largely tripe.

There are certainly some questions that remain unexplained, but suggesting that unknowns mean that evolution theory is garbage is as flawed as saying that unproven areas of mathematics mean that 2+2=4 should be thrown out entirely and replaced with a pseudo-theological alternative (2+2=5 perhaps?).

Question: "Is the similarity in human/chimp DNA evidence for evolution?"

Answer: In recent years, genome mapping has enabled detailed comparisons between the DNA of humans and that of chimpanzees. Many have claimed that humans and chimpanzees share over 98% of their DNA. This is often taken as decisive evidence of the common ancestry of apes and humans. But is this argument tenable? Is this really a fact which definitively proves a human-chimp common ancestry? It is our contention that the percentage is misleading. In fact, when the data is examined more closely, the human-chimp genome comparisons turn out to contradict what would be predicted by evolution.

In reality, the genetic differences between humans and chimpanzees are probably greater than 2%. More recent studies have shown that the true genetic divergence between humans and apes is probably closer to 5%. Thus, the “over 98% similarity” argument is probably an overstatement.

The differences between the DNA sequence of the human and the chimp are not distributed randomly throughout the genome. Rather, the differences are found in clusters. Actually, at those specific locations, the chimp’s genome is similar to that of other primates. It is the human that stands out from the rest. Scientists often refer to these ‘clusters’ as human accelerated regions (HAR’s) because the human genome supposedly shared a common ancestor with chimps. These HAR’s are located in DNA segments that do not code for genes. But this requires us to believe that evolution just so happened to cause such rapid change to occur in sites where those changes make an important difference in an organism’s functioning necessary to ultimately create a human.

Such would be a whopper of a just-so story. But it gets better. Some HAR’s are found in DNA segments that do code for genes, and herein lies another multitude of difficulties. Evolution would predict that humans evolved from the chimp-human ancestor via natural selection acting on chance variations induced by mutations. However, recent research reveals just the opposite. The HAR’s that were found in protein coding genes showed evidence not of mutations that had been selected in view of their advantageous phenotype, but rather the exact opposite. The genetic changes showed evidence that they were, in point of fact, deleterious. They had become established in the population not because they provided some physiological advantage, but in spite of being deleterious. Such results make little sense within an evolutionary framework.

Clearly the HAR’s show a trend in which the differences observed in the human DNA (as compared to similar species) typically increase the G-C content of that particular region of the DNA strand. Evolution would predict that the G-C content of the underlying gene should remain relatively constant, as natural selection picks out the DNA mutations that improve the protein. If evolution is true, therefore, we should not expect a consistent trend toward an increasing G-C content.

These HAR’s are not always limited simply to the protein coding part of the gene, but often extend beyond the border into the flanking sequences. This further suggests that these differences which are observed in the human DNA are not in fact consequences of natural selection enhancing the protein that the gene encodes. The HAR’s often tend to cluster in a single part of a gene, in and around a single exon (as opposed to across the entire gene), and they tend to correlate with male (but not female) recombination. Such observations make little sense in light of evolution.

In conclusion, as interesting as genetic similarities between chimpanzees and humans are, they are not evidence for Darwinism. Design is also able to explain them. Designers often make different products by utilization of similar parts, materials and arrangements. The common percentage pertains to the regions of our DNA that result in proteins. It makes more sense of the data for the Designer of nature to have used the same proteins to perform the same function in a variety of organisms.

The function of evolution does not require there to be Designer, nor does the function of evolution preclude the possibility of a designer.

Intelligent Design requires you to take it on faith that a Designer made the changes. There can never be proof of this occuring (unless he happened to write a very specific tag line or some such. Maybe in the future we will indeed find a series a genes that serve no other function besides as a signature).

Your examples in the above post may seem great to you, but they in reality say nothing.

Its pretty funny that its suggeted that simply sharing somehwere between 95-98% rather than 98% of the same genes should be considered an arguement against Darwinism.

The existence of genes that currently provide no benifit, or even negative, does not contradict evolution Theory at all, it simply shows that evolution is continuing or the gene itself is not properly understood.

A good example of improper understanding is the common Bee type insect. Vast number of worker bees apparently support a single reproducing queen and a small number of reproducing males. Why would evolution cause such a difference? Surely this is a mistake!?! I mean, a single reproducing female has apparently forced dozens of non-reproducing workers to feed it and take care of it... for no direct gain. Yet it turns out that due to the genetic composition of bee type insects, its in the worker bee's genes' best interest to create -more- worker bees. This is the closest match in terms of genetics to the current worker bee. When colonys of Bee type inspects are tested, the most populous type of bee is almost always the female worker bee. Even when the situation exists that larger numbers of reproductive queens/males could be supported, the tendency of the bee type insect is to maximize the worker population... sense it made. No Faith is needed that for some reason a Design (or Wizard) decide to "Do it that Way".

Looks like scientists took the liberty of answering your copy and paste job that you apparently have no understanding of, but since it is written by morons who think the bible has answers, you take it as gospel (ironic, I know).

Basically, you are a puppet. You have no understanding of what you are talking about, so you copy and paste garbage you found on a creationist BS website. If you have evidence evolution doesn't work, present it. Otherwise, you have no argument. Every silly joke of a post on that website has responses from legitimate science studies to show they are false. That is the same website that has the balls to say that the second law of thermodynamics disproves evolution. Of course they don't read the whole law or cherry pick so they can cater to idiots who follow their religion (most likely the latter, since the leaders of such cults tend to be sociopaths) and forget to notice the part about a closed system. Even scarier would be if they didn't know the Earth wasn't a closed system...

Hopefully you can see why I can't take your "evidence" seriously. When you disprove the mechanism of evolution, let me know.

quote: "The genetic changes showed evidence that they were, in point of fact, deleterious. They had become established in the population not because they provided some physiological advantage, but in spite of being deleterious. Such results make little sense within an evolutionary framework."

S****! not this nonsense again. Do you honestly not realize that a particular mutation may be advantageous in one setting, but deleterious in another? A classic example is sickle-cell anemia. In malaria-prone climates, having a single copy of this "defect" provides resistance to malaria. Elsewhere, its just a problem.

Much of our genotype is excess baggage, carried over from millions of years ago. It made sense at the time and place, biologically speaking, but does not today. Trying to use this as 'proof' that some god or gods made is childishly naive.

Mathematics destroys the theory of evolution, for example some geneticists estimate it would take 10^1800 positive mutations for a one cell organism to evolve in to an advanced mammal such as a horse.....so working within the evolutionary time frame that gives us about 10^17 seconds, its mathematically impossible to have 10^1800 mutations within 10^17 seconds…impossible. Not to mention the fact that only 1 in 1,000 mutations are positive and a majority of the other 999 are negative and harmful to the organism.

There is no mode for the modern theory of evolution….mutations aren’t it…neither is Darwin’s pangenesis…actually science destroys the theory again and again…but again like I said evolution is a religion, it is a religious belief, because people like to believe it no matter what the actual science says…..they can’t handle the heat so as soon as somebody questions the sacred theory they launch into all sorts of personal attacks and arguments…instead of showing the actual science behind evolution…that’s right because there is none…..Peace

The best book on creation vs evolution I’ve read is “what is creation science”

"its mathematically impossible to have 10^1800 mutations within 10^17 seconds"

How so? We have several million trillion single-celled organisms on the planet...we're seeing several billion mutations per second among them even today (where do you think new diseases come from anyway?)

Anyway, as for your claim that "some genetistics" calculated this 10^1800, I don't think a couple baptist fanatics count as true scientific experts.

Wrong…..single cell organisms do not experience several billion mutations per second, if they did they would be destroyed as only less than 1 in 1,000 mutations are positive, while the majority of the 999 others are negative and will destroy the organism…so if any organism experienced several mutations per second, it would live about another second and die…as well there is no source that could cause that number of mutations, and that would not kill that organism, further more we are lucky that or DNA etc. replicates in a process that was specifically made to avoid mutations as mutations will kill you, ask the millions of people with genetic diseases.…..you can try the experiment yourself spend a day in front of an x-ray machine and see how that works out for you….mutations aka…the loss of genetic material kills a species it doesn’t cause it to evolve….so no matter if it takes 10^1800 or 10^1,000,000 mutations it doesn’t matter as MUTATIONS CANNOT BE THE DRIVING FORCE BEHIND EVOLUTION…..THERE IS NO MODE OF EVOLUTION…ONLY HERESAY AND SPECULATION AND NICE ARTIST DEPICTIONS…EVOLUTION IS A RELIGION

Mutations are not the loss of genetic material. Often SNPs or single nucleotide polymorphisms are mutations. The driving force behind evolution is differential reproduction and survival. The person that commented earlier never said that an organisms experiences several billion mutations per second...amongst all the organisms and their cells you will get several billion, if not trillions and above, mutations per second.

I'd recommend some intro college classes on genetics and evolution as from your posts it seems you lack understanding on many of the broader notions of both topics.

"The driving force behind evolution is differential reproduction and survival". NO ITS NOT

.....differential reproduction or aka…natural selection only works on genetic material that already exists it does not create new genetic material or new species (classic peppered moth example, but no new species or genetic material was created, the moth is still a moth whether it is black or white, as the genes for the differentiation in color already existed in the moths genetic code) Natural selection just shows how species survive through breeding aka the environment favors certain genetic traits that ALREADY EXSIST IN THE GENTIC CODE, it does not create new species or create new genetic material

maybe it is you that should take some basic biology classes….and get your evolution story straight…

or you could be like my college evolutionary biology professor and say “evolution is just the rearranging of alleles” LOL

You IDiot... Just having a large amount of genetic variability does not drive evolution. Did they actually give you a degree at that college?

Natural selection is the driving force of evolution. It WORKS on the variability of the population. If you don't understand that concept then re-take that class with a better teacher as it is a foundation pillar of the science. I'm sure there are some community colleges around you.

Mutations and reorganization of parts of genomes create new traits in species...you are more than welcome to look at current "evolve before your eyes" studies on HIV. Look at studies in protein folding with mutations in key areas of a genome. You must be incredibly foolish or arrogant to assume that

Get a subscription to Science or Nature if the language isn't too advanced.

According to the most-widely accepted theory of evolution today, the sole mechanism for producing evolution is that of random mutation combined with natural selection. Mutations are random changes in genetic systems. Natural selection is considered by evolutionists to be a sort of sieve, which retains the "good" mutations and allows the others to pass away.

Since random changes in ordered systems almost always will decrease the amount of order in those systems, nearly all mutations are harmful to the organisms which experience them. Nevertheless, the evolutionist insists that each complex organism in the world today has arisen by a long string of gradually accumulated good mutations preserved by natural selection. No one has ever actually observed a genuine mutation occurring in the natural environment which was beneficial (that is, adding useful genetic information to an existing genetic code), and therefore, retained by the selection process. For some reason, however, the idea has a certain persuasive quality about it and seems eminently reasonable to many people—until it is examined quantitatively, that is!

For example, consider a very simple putative organism composed of only 200 integrated and functioning parts, and the problem of deriving that organism by this type of process. The system presumably must have started with only one part and then gradually built itself up over many generations into its 200-part organization. The developing organism, at each successive stage, must itself be integrated and functioning in its environment in order to survive until the next stage. Each successive stage, of course, becomes statistically less likely than the preceding one, since it is far easier for a complex system to break down than to build itself up. A four-component integrated system can more easily "mutate" (that is, somehow suddenly change) into a three-component system (or even a four-component non-functioning system) than into a five-component integrated system. If, at any step in the chain, the system mutates "downward," then it is either destroyed altogether or else moves backward, in an evolutionary sense.

Therefore, the successful production of a 200-component functioning organism requires, at least, 200 successive, successful such "mutations," each of which is highly unlikely. Even evolutionists recognize that true mutations are very rare, and beneficial mutations are extremely rare—not more than one out of a thousand mutations are beneficial, at the very most.

But let us give the evolutionist the benefit of every consideration. Assume that, at each mutational step, there is equally as much chance for it to be good as bad. Thus, the probability for the success of each mutation is assumed to be one out of two, or one-half. Elementary statistical theory shows that the probability of 200 successive mutations being successful is then (½)200, or one chance out of 1060. The number 1060, if written out, would be "one" followed by sixty "zeros." In other words, the chance that a 200-component organism could be formed by mutation and natural selection is less than one chance out of a trillion, trillion, trillion, trillion, trillion! Lest anyone think that a 200-part system is unreasonably complex, it should be noted that even a one-celled plant or animal may have millions of molecular "parts."

The evolutionist might react by saying that even though any one such mutating organism might not be successful, surely some around the world would be, especially in the 10 billion years (or 1018 seconds) of assumed earth history. Therefore, let us imagine that every one of the earth's 1014 square feet of surface harbors a billion (i.e., 109) mutating systems and that each mutation requires one-half second (actually it would take far more time than this). Each system can thus go through its 200 mutations in 100 seconds and then, if it is unsuccessful, start over for a new try. In 1018 seconds, there can, therefore, be 1018/102, or 1016, trials by each mutating system. Multiplying all these numbers together, there would be a total possible number of attempts to develop a 200-component system equal to 1014 (109) (1016), or 1039 attempts. Since the probability against the success of any one of them is 1060, it is obvious that the probability that just one of these 1039 attempts might be successful is only one out of 1060/1039, or 1021.

All this means that the chance that any kind of a 200-component integrated functioning organism could be developed by mutation and natural selection just once, anywhere in the world, in all the assumed expanse of geologic time, is less than one chance out of a billion trillion. What possible conclusion, therefore, can we derive from such considerations as this except that evolution by mutation and natural selection is mathematically and logically indefensible!

You just cited a hydraulic engineer....since when did someone with a degree in hydraulic engineering be considered a geneticist? Perhaps you don't under stand how degree and specialized knowledge works?

First of all he makes a critical error in his "math." He's stating that all 200 mutations occur at the SAME TIME in the same organism and cannot occur in a stepwise fashion over populations. If you understood evolution you would know that for mutations to create new genetic information they DO NOT have to occur at the exact same time. Maybe you need some statistical and mathematical refresher courses as well.

Next horrible creationist example please! You're making it too easy to show how awful the foundations of creation and id are.

If that is the best you can do maybe you should forego retaking college classes and reconsider high school biology.

quote: Am I acting as an advocate in this review? Yes, I am. I believe that to be " impartial " and " balanced " on global warming means one must take a position like Gore's. There is no other view that can be defended.

Ebert on Creationism

quote: That wise man Mark Twain told us: "In religion and politics people's beliefs and convictions are in almost every case gotten at second-hand, and without examination, from authorities who have not themselves examined the questions at issue but have taken them at second-hand from others." This is true. It is even sometimes true of me. Perhaps of you. However, there are certain areas in which I consider myself an authority, like the movies. I have devoted years to learning about the Theory of Evolution. I think Creationism is superstitious poppycock.

He claims himself as an expert in movies, and therefore creationism is 'poppycock'. And the Mark Twain comment is odd because most of what we know is second hand information. Unless you consider first hand information when you read something someone else wrote.

One would presume, he has spent years reading the direct works for Darwin and Evolutionary Scientists, rather than relying on say National Geographic or DailyTech. His understanding or views may be wrong, but a case can be made that there is a significant difference between a Christian who has never directly read the Bible and one who has read it cover to cover several times in terms of their ability to speak about the Bible.

The point is this. Ebert was used as a review for the movie. It would be like a holocaust denier reviewing Schindler's list. He has so much contempt and anger, it is sad.

quote: "I have devoted years to learning about the Theory of Evolution."

1.I will assume, based on his attitude, that he didn't spend much time reading any objective criticism of evolution. If only he would look at it with his critics eye, then his opinion would carry more weight.

2.Al Gore has devoted many years to global warming, sorry old terminology, global climate change.

Side note, I am a believer in the global climate constant. I believe it never changes. It's always sunny and 80 here.